Ex-A’s outfielder answers whether he was disrespecting his former team after HR.

Regarding “The Staredown Heard Around Oakland,” Mark Canha is speaking.

In Friday’s victory over his former team, the Oakland Athletics, Canha, an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, hit a home run. Canha lowered his bat and appeared to be staring straight towards the A’s dugout as he walked up the first base line in the sixth inning after he blasted a JP Sears fastball into the left-field stands.

Following the game, which Detroit won 5–4, Canha said he wasn’t purposefully disparaging his old team.

According to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, he stated, “I didn’t look in the dugout.” “I tried to energise them by glancing at the spectators above the dugout. There was no personal animosity between the A’s and me. I would want to clarify that.

Given that Friday’s game was held in Detroit, it is most likely that Canha was only attempting to enthuse the home crowd. Still, not many would hold Canha responsible if he harboured grudges against the A’s. Canha was a native Oakland player who spent seven seasons there, hitting 89 home runs. However, when he became a free agency in 2021, the A’s did not extend a qualifying offer to him. That year, he chose to sign with the New York Mets instead, and he then played for the Milwaukee Brewers before being traded to the Tigers over the summer.

Nevertheless, we need to believe Canha when he says this. His passionate home run celebrations were already gaining him notice when he was still with the A’s.